Greetings fellow brewers! As you can see this is my first post, and if this is the wrong area please let me know and I will move it. I am writing for help in finding a good online store for brewing supplies. Between work and family life getting to the closest brew mart can be challenging. I have searched on the web and prices and shipping seem to vary quite a bit. Anyone with recommendations on a good online store? Thank you in advance for your time!

I live in southern california about an hour or so away from San Diego. I hadn't even thought about yeast in the summer with the shipping! Good thought! Thank you to all for the suggestions I just got back home and will be looking at them in a few minutes!

Greetings fellow brewers! As you can see this is my first post, and if this is the wrong area please let me know and I will move it. I am writing for help in finding a good online store for brewing supplies. Between work and family life getting to the closest brew mart can be challenging. I have searched on the web and prices and shipping seem to vary quite a bit. Anyone with recommendations on a good online store? Thank you in advance for your time!

I usually price out what I'm looking for at Northern Brewer, Midwest, and MoreBeer to see what gets me what I want for the best total price.

Although, we've recently had a homebrew shop move into town and so far, it's been excellent. Good product, good prices, and good attitude - done much less online shopping since.

I use Austin Homebrew Supply the most often. They seem to have the right balance of selection, pricing and flat rate shipping for me. I use Northern Brewer the second most often - they probably have the best selection of the online retailers, but they don't have flat rate shipping any more so YMMV on cost. I have dealt with customer service from both of them, and I have been very happy with my experiences.

I've also used Midwest, Rebel Brewer, and Farmhouse Brewing Supply and have had good results from all of them. If you're a big hophead, then Yakima Valley Hops, Hops Direct, and Freshops are worth looking into for hard to get hop varieties or for bulk orders.

If you're placing a big order, it is worth your while to price out several different retailers for your order. Shipping costs can be significant, so make sure you factor that in.

It matters where you live, I agree. If you live in the South East I recommend www.rebelbrewer.com - that said, I've been very happy with Northern Brewer and More Beer is great when they actually have the item you want IN STOCK (and good luck with that!).

I discovered that because of the price differences, midwest is often cheaper than morebeer even with shipping tacked on. It pays to check several places and look at your totals after shipping. I like midwest because they carry some bottle caps that I really like that I have not seen anywhere else. Also midwest is considerably cheaper on sacks of Rahr 2 Row than anybody else I have looked at.

I agree that your location is super important. Being from California I usual get my stuff within two to three days (from the time they ship it) from just about any shop California I order from. Here are my favorites:

Morebeer- Pros: good selection, good prices, love the $59 free shipping (regular shipping is not too bad either), friendly help. Also, they have a shop in Irvine, don't know how close that is to you, but if you are between LA and SD can't be too far. Cons, they run out stuff sometimes which blows. Also, usually takes them a few days to actually ship, sometimes it's fast but sometimes it can take them up to 5 days. www.morebeer.com

Williams Brewing- Pros: Order placed by 4 pm ship the next day, so I usually can get my stuff within 2 to 3 days of ordering. Nice website, good but not amazing selection. Reasonable shipping rates. Cons: Prices are a little higher, but not crazy. Service is good for shipping etc, brew knowledge is just ok if you need help since they are an internet only based shop. www.williamsbrewing.com

The Beverage People- Pros: Pros: Really great service and family own. Fast, flat rate shipping. Solid inventory. Cons: princes are a little higher but again not crazy, website could be a lot better. thebeveragepeople.com.

I also use Northern Brewer now and then because of there selection, but less so since they stopped flat rate shipping. I have also used Rebel Brewer, Brewers Warehouse, and Midwest Supply. All of which have done a great job. Though I do try to keep it in California if I can.